The real trick with round balloons is to treat them as much like a treasure as your wonderful twisty creations. Draw a clown face on it. Autograph it. Do something to make it special.

Hope this helps

Here's a question for ya: What type of marker does one use on latex balloons? Reason I ask, is because that sounds like a good idea. But, not too many years ago, I let my kids have fun with a bag o' balloons and let them draw funny faces on them , etc. Then my wife came home. :o She didn't look happy. :x Apparently all the markings came off the the balloons and onto the kids and in some cases subsequently transfrered to random things throughout the house. :shock: :o

I know, I know - my fault for not supervising :oops: - but my question still stands: Is there a balloon/marker combination that works well?

Sharpies seem to work the best. Just tell them to be careful until it dries!

I use sharpies too, and now they come in all kinds of colors

Sue,

There is a balloonist/magician who comes to the KCD and a few years back, he was making balloons with Gabbie, Jabber & me and he said not to use sharpies.

I can't remember what he said to use instead, but I will look him up at KCD this year and find out what it is he uses.

Supposedly, Sharpies tend to smear even when they seem to be dry.

~SAM 8)

I use a Bic MArk it Permanit Marker it works real well

I did a bit more thinking on the subject and I seem to remember that the real mess came in because the kids were deflating the balloons after they applied the marker. Does anyone know if there is a marker that's not going to make a mess if a child deflates or pops a balloon? The last thing I want to be remembered for is giving a parent a mess... :?

Here is the scoop on markers for balloons. Many, even most, twisters use Sharpies because of the wide range of colors and that they don't pop the balloon seeing as how they don't contain alcohol or xylene as many other markers do. Downside: when the balloon is deflated the markings reliquidify.
A new favorite among some twisters is the Expo2 Dry Erase Marker. Not the original Expo but the Expo2. I have not used these myself so I can't give a first hand report. I use a number of Sharpies as well as option #3
Qualatex makes a few balloon markers that work very well. They come in both black and six other colors. The colored six pack contains a blue, green, pink, purple, gold and silver. Now these are not solid colors, they all have a silver base. Very nice and shiny. They are not all that exspensive either.

Just don't use alchohol based makers. They seem to cause balloons to expire prematurely.

i was unacceptably excited when the clicky sharpies came out...

I tried white -out for the first time. It was cooler than the flip side of the pillow! It was the dollar store white out. Or should I say white-on. The white-out did not want to pop the balloon at all. Dried fast and I could write on top of the white. Good for teeth, or the white of eyes.

my dad and I sharpes:applause:

There are two or three types of white scrapbook paint pens that I have used (stay away from ones containing xylene) but I have never tried regular white out. It makes sense.

i great balloon man that i try to train under showed me this weekend what happenes with sharpies/dry erase. we wrote on a balloon with both, let them dry, then popped them. the sharpie smeared on his hand, and the dry erase (expo) did not. i will be buying expo from now on!